Apple announced yesterday that Forstall, the vice president of iOS software, would be leaving the company next year after working there for 15 years. Apple didn't go into much detail other than that, but new reports are shedding light on the situation.

According to Giga OM, Forstall's departure was "fairly last minute" and "not something he initiated." Many iOS and OS X teams as well as engineers were surprised by the news and found out only minutes after it was announced.

However, Forstall didn't seem to make many friends during his time with Apple. Giga OM mentioned that Forstall's exit was "met with a sense of quiet jubilation, especially among people who worked in the engineering groups." Forstall didn't get along with Apple executives either, such as industrial designer Jony Ive, Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue, or Senior Vice President of Mac and Devices Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield.

Forstall was deeply criticized for the execution of Apple's latest maps app, which is the company's first in-house maps service application on iOS. It was released in September along with iOS 6, and mocked for its geography and navigation issues.

Reports have noted that Apple's time schedule for the maps launch was what led to the problems, insinuating that a quick launch was more important than a finished product.

Now, Apple is showing Forstall the door, and no one seems to be too upset about it. Rather, many Apple employees have welcomed the promotions given to Ive, Cue, Mansfield and Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Mac Software Engineering.

Ive will take over Human Interface (HI) for the company while Cue will take on Siri, Maps, the iTunes Store, the App Store, iCloud and the iBookstore. Furthermore, Mansfield will lead a new group called "Technologies" for all of Apple's wireless teams while Federighi will take over iOS and OS X.

In addition to Forstall, Apple fired its retail head John Browett as well. Browett, which only joined Apple in April of this year, was responsible for a faulty hiring formula that led to the reduction of part-time hours and several lay offs of retail employees. Some had only just finished their training.

OMG if you actually read it without thinking of me attacking your darling, you'd see that a screwup is not necessarily fatal.

Are they perfect? No, they are making mistakes. They have in the past (MobileMe anyone), they are making mistakes (Maps?) and they will make mistakes in the future. Will those mistakes affect them? That is what I am questioning.

quote: I do acknowledge when Apple gets stuff wrong.

No you don't. You absolutely did not when Maps went wrong. Only later you started excusing and saying why it isn't a problem. After Apple themselves acknowledged the issue. Go and look back at your own posts.

quote: Apple is faltering in some way when in fact there is no evidence for that

They fired a veteran of 15 years, fired a bad hire (in six months!), iTunes is now delayed. All firsts. No innovation since iPhone 4, innovation is supposed to be what Apple is about. I think a new product launch will be their only salvo.

Also it is not unnoticed that you do not reply when you cannot answer. Like your whole saga about Apple being forced to launch Maps in iOS6, something they fully control. Just to build deniability I bet.

quote: My exclusively positive commentary is merely intended to help balance the wealth of ill-informed and hysterical negative nonsense spouted by many about Apple in these forums.

That only goes to damage your own credibility for objectiveness. A la an Apple nutjob.

quote: They fired a veteran of 15 years, fired a bad hire (in six months!), iTunes is now delayed.

Are you a high school girl?

"OMG - it's like - iTunes is a whole month late - OMG - this means Apple are sinking - OMG - they sacked someone - OMG" - it's the beginning of the end

For christ grow up, calm down and stop being such an hysterical ninny.

This is the same old shite, iPhobics desperatly clutching at any straw, no mater how insubstantial, with which they can convince themselves that somehow Apple will falter, and perhaps even shrink. Dream on.

Meanwhile in the real world of grown ups Apple is spending over $8 billion a year on capital investment (careful - don't panic again - they can afford it).

That's 30% more than Intel, three times what Google spent, 3.5 times what Amazon spent and 4.8 times what Microsoft spent. That's Apple tooling up for their first £200 billion year.

What are they spending it on? I suspect mostly chip fab plants as it is clear they going all out for bespoke silicon and dumping Samsung ASAP, plus big investments in screen, battery and casing production.

BTW the Apple capital spend is bigger than the space programme. These dudes mean business.

It's quite funny you post this almost every post as if YOU live in the real world. Your little fantasy land, it's not real. You might be the king in your little fantasy land, but in the actual real world, you are a loser.

Yeah call me a girl when you haven't got an answer. And then throw some random stuff about capex.

Maybe they just don't know how to do a data center cheaply. They sure don't know maps. Maybe they are buying up NFC readers. Rofl..

Anyone with cash can spend cash. What they are likely doing is trying to get the iTV product to have decent margins. A fab is pointless as they have no design flow and process experience. It is something you cannot build by just buying equipment, you need to real R&D like Intel and TSMC. I am quite certain the commentators of that article have no semiconductor engineering knowledge or experience.

Unless they buy a company, Apple won't be fabbing on their own anytime soon. Maybe fitting up TSMC. Apple goes to vendors who do the R&D for their displays, flash, ram, and must be buying the equipment for them. You cannot compare expenditure with Intel (only chips), Microsoft ( software) google ( software data Center) vs Apple who needs all the components and desire exclusivity.

In six months they could write it off and apologise to shareholders. "Our expectations for demand have not been met."

It can go either way and you know nothing to prove otherwise.

Maybe they should spend some of that money on maps and iCloud. Spending cash is not some wonderous thing as you seem to put it.